Mountain West Basketball Power Rankings For January 29

New Mexico is up to No. 3 in the new staff power rankings

Throughout the season, the Mountain West Wire staff will provide weekly men’s basketball team power rankings. The rankings are compiled by the Wire staff on a standard 1-11 ranking basis.

Composite score is a rating that shows each team’s relative strength among the other ten Mountain West teams. After total votes are tallied, each team’s point total is divided by the team with the most votes, creating a composite score. The top-ranked team will always have a perfect composite score of 1.0000.

Click the following link to visit last week’s power rankings and composite scores:

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11) San Jose State Spartans (3-17, 0-9)

—> San Jose State was leveled by Boise State earlier in the week, but showed some fight against Wyoming, eventually losing in overtime. SJSU isn’t favored in any of its remaining nine conference games, according to KenPom.

Composite score: .0909

10) Air Force Falcons (8-12, 2-6)

—> Air Force was unable to stretch its winning streak to three post-government shutdown, dropping games to Utah State and Boise State this week. Next up is San Diego State in Viejas Arena.

Composite score: .1818

9) Colorado State Rams (10-13, 3-7)

—> Colorado State lost by 19 and 15 to San Diego State and New Mexico this week, and will have to endure this coming week without both Prentiss Nixon and J.D. Paige. With rumors swirling around head coach Larry Eustachy, this is becoming a nightmare of a season in Fort Collins.

Composite score: .2727

8) Utah State Aggies (12-11, 5-5)

—> Utah State has had its ups and downs, and it appears Tim Duryea’s group is back on the upswing. A four-game losing streak was snapped with USU’s dominant win over Air Force, and the Aggies responded by beating Fresno State.

Composite score: .4242

7) San Diego State Aztecs (12-8, 4-5)

—> San Diego State beat Colorado State handily but couldn’t close against UNLV, falling to 8th in the Mountain West standings. The Aztecs have lost four of their last five games and still have to play Nevada twice, Boise State, Fresno State and Wyoming.

Composite score: .5000

6) UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (15-6, 4-4)

—> UNLV could not pick up its second consecutive conference win Tuesday, falling to Fresno State on the road. The Runnin’ Rebels responded nicely by beating San Diego State in Vegas in one of the more complete 40 minutes we’ve seen from UNLV this season.

Composite score: .5303

5) Wyoming Cowboys (14-7, 5-3)

—> Wyoming pulled off the upset over a ranked Nevada team Wednesday night in the double overtime thriller. Allen Edwards’ crew now owns wins over each of the top three MWC preseason teams (Nevada, San Diego State, Boise State). Wyoming also escaped San Jose State in overtime.

Composite score: .6212

4) Fresno State Bulldogs (15-7, 5-4)

—> Another week of close games for Fresno State, which has had no shortage of drama this season. The Bulldogs protected home against UNLV but got picked off by a last-second Daron Henson three-pointer in Logan against Utah State.

Composite score: .6970

3) New Mexico Lobos (11-11, 6-3)

—> Only one game this past week for New Mexico, which was an easy win over banged up Colorado State. Paul Weir’s squad needs only four more wins to tie UNM’s conference win total from last season, despite entering the season ranked No. 9 at media day.

Composite score: .7727

2) Boise State Broncos (18-4, 8-2)

—> Boise State enjoyed a 2-0 week with wins over lowly San Jose State and Air Force. The Broncos had their issues against the Academy, but had enough in the tank to remain one loss behind Nevada in the MWC standings.

Composite score: .9091

1) Nevada Wolf Pack (18-4, 7-1)

—> Nevada dropped its first conference game on Wednesday, suffering a double overtime loss to Wyoming in Laramie. It was the first conference loss for Nevada since February 12 of last year.